1. Getting Started

First Things First - Assignment Requirements

Before you begin your care plan, examine the assignment closely for any requirements.

Q. How long is the paper?

This could be a page length, a page range, a word count, etc. (check your assignment) Ms. Hood's assignment specifies a maximum length of 5 pages of content, excluding your title page and reference pages.

Q. How many sources?

How many total sources does your instructor ask for? For this assignment, you must locate 3 professional nursing journal articles.

Q. What kind of sources?

For this assignment, sources must be:

Peer-reviewed nursing journal articles
Published or written within the last 5 years
Your textbook may be used only as a 4th reference source

Q. How do you cite sources?

For this assignment, you will use APA format.

Q. What is due?

Refer to your assignment instructions for specific requirements regarding the paper content. Remember, you must also include a references page with APA citations for all your sources. You may also have other tasks, such as a rough draft, to complete. Make sure you are aware of the due dates for each task.

Q. When is it due?

How long do you have to work on this paper or project? Plan out your time, so you don't get stuck doing all the work at the last minute. Plan extra time in case you have problems or get stuck.

Selecting a Pathophysiology

The first thing you need to do before you begin your formal care plan is to select a pathophysiology that you're going to write about. Consider the following:

Q. Do you have a choice?

Follow the assignment instructions about choosing a patient from your clinical experience to use for your care plan pathophysiology paper. You must notify your clinical instructor and Ms. Hood about your choice.

Q. Are there sources?

Before you totally commit to a topic, you'll want to make sure that there are enough outside sources on the topic for your assignment. Not every topic is going to have information written about it. Newer topics or topics that aren't as well known may be harder to find sources for. Do some searching in the library's databases to make sure there are sources, and Ask-A-Librarian to double-check if you're not sure there are enough sources for a topic you're really interested in.